Review: Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey

Overview Where’s Waldo may be the most famous search and find book series of all time, and now Waldo is on the iPhone. Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey was published long ago, but now it’s digital, and able to be on your iPhone anywhere you go. You have to find Waldo, and his friends Wenda, Woof, and Wizard Whitebeard plus his enemy Odlaw. There are many different maps all with a magical theme, and you go over some a couple times with different finding objectives. You also have to search for specific objects and other characters elsewhere in the picture. The entire game is leading to finding the lost scrolls. Features Twelve different maps/pictures are included each with their own theme, and a brief little postcard from Waldo about why he’s there. The game is basically a hidden object game like many others ported to the iPhone. Every level is scored based on a five star scale that deducts as time passes, and replenishes a bit when you find an object. As you progress the images become more complex, more items are to be found, and little oddballs are thrown in by Odlaw. If you don’t find him when he appears he throws in wacky paint, freezes the screen, flips the screen, and makes the screen shake. Also you choose a character who you can click on to help you find items, but there’s only a limited number of helps. Certain objects found add helps, and special twinkle screens where you can build up your star rating. The Good Hidden Object games are no scarcity on the iPhone, but the major name in Hidden object games was absent. Ludia has rectified that, and brought the Waldo we know and love tot he iPhone. The best aspect is the expansive nature of each image you have to find Waldo and various other items. Most other hidden object games on the iPhone have relatively small images, and they’re all realistic, and you’re really just searching through all kind of items that stick out. In Waldo the items you’re looking for are just part of the image which makes it so much more difficult than finding a basketball in an actual real photograph of an old building. The best aspect of Where’s Waldo is the art design. Every image is extremely detailed with each item in the picture telling a story of it’s own. So many things stick out to bring s smile to your face as they’re absurdly cartoonish. The set up of the game is particularly nice to have the time taken tick down your overall five score rating, and yet you can boost it back up by finding items. Each image gets tougher, and the rate of star depletion quickens. The special Odlaw tactics thrown in as well as the bonuses add a new flair to Waldo that can only be done digitally, and not in the books. Every picture is straight from the book which is exceptional to begin with, but characters are occasionally animated in the pictures. Also every image has a magical theme to transport you from the everyday which is really laking in other hidden object games. Each image even has its own soundtrack to go with the specific theme. It's super easy to drag around the screen, and tap on the items. Also a save system is included to pick up on the last image you were on. As a nice touch the Waldo, and the other items change location if you exit, and reenter the same image. The Bad One problem with the game is just the overall structure. The iPhone can only display so much, but the full images from the book are included. So most of the time you drag around the image looking for objects. Also with the set up of only displaying a portion of the large image, when you click on an object it limits the entire image to a certain section making it easier to find the item. This takes away from scouring the huge wonderful landscapes that makes the Waldo books. After once through the game I don't think there is any reason to play the game again. Also a few times the images were a little pixelated from the digital compression process. The Verdict Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey is the best Hidden object game in the App Store simply because of the charm packed into every object you’re scouring through. It doesn’t break any bounds in terms of gameplay, but it does in terms of the art style, and overall detail in every image. Where’s Waldo is currently at $2.99 and it’s a should buy even if you own other hidden object games.

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